| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Little Haystack Mountain, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Truman, Mt. Lafayette, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Falling Waters Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Greenleaf Trail, Old Bridle Path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, March 28, 2010 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Spring Snow |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Traction, Ice Axe |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Water crossings were easy just stepping on rocks |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A few blowdowns, maybe two we had to climb over |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw a dog heading up Falling Waters. Not sure where they went from there, never saw them again, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't anywhere north of Lincoln's summit |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A mix of everything. A little running water mixed with snow and ice down low. Quickly went to monorail and then full deep compacted snow up to the ridge. Lots of ice after Lincoln. We did put crampons on to get up Little Haystack at Shining Ledge junction but the actual summit was mostly bare so we removed them until Lincoln's summit. Could have done that section without them.
The ridge from there was all thick smooth ice and iced over snowfields north of Lincolns summit. A slip almost anywhere would have been really bad, hard to even self arrest on that stuff and nothing to stop you for hundreds of feet. If it was me I wouldn't do it without full crampons and an axe but maybe micro spikes would have worked. Don't really know as I've never used them.
Ice all the way back to treeline near the hut and then just packed snow almost until the car.
The winds were steady (40 mph?) gusting high enough to knock one person over a few times. Blowing granular snow here and there but other than that it was a pretty nice day to be up there with a mix of sun and clouds.
We did see the one dog with his owner near shining ledge headed up and never saw them again. I'm almost positive the dog we saw couldn't have made it any farther than Lincoln's summit so I'm guessing they went south but don't know for sure. |
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 | Name: |
Derek F |
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 | E-Mail: |
drf77@aol.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2010-03-30 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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